It is a "victory for those who have been fighting hard to maintain the funding through Gonski" - Tasmanian Premier, Lara Giddings.

Congratulations and thank you. We signed e-cards, wrote letters, shared our anger and forced the Government to do what it said it would before the election: honour the Gonski funding arrangements from 2014 to 2017.

There is still a way to go for Gonski to be fully implemented. The Government has still not committed to Gonski in 2018 and 2019, when the big money is scheduled to come in. As we keep working to win those resources for our schools, we know that this week's backdown shows the power of a massive community response.

“The announcement on Monday follows a week of criticism after the education minister, Christopher Pyne, said that the former government’s system would remain in place for only one year, 2014, and would then be replaced by a new yet-to-be devised model.”

“Mr Abbott promised on Monday that he would stick to the exact terms of the deals already struck with NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, but suggested the new deals struck with Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory would come with no requirements that the states and territory guarantee funding.”